Sunshine
by Lumos-Graystripe
Summary: Nico may be a child of death, but after almost slipping away, maybe he needs someone to pull him out of the shadows. A Solangelo fic.
1. Chapter 1

Having friends, especially those who wanted to see him, was a foreign concept. Reyna, Coach Hedge, the crew of the _Argo II_ all seemed to enjoy seeing him, and even though he thought about them, and marveled at the fact that he now had friends, he at least knew what friends were. He could put Reyna and Jason into the friends category without hours of thought.

But then there was Will. Nico knew that Will worked in the infirmary, but even so he seemed to see Will an awful lot. Usually Nico would've ignored someone passing by what seemed like every three seconds, fixing his pillows or getting him to drink something, or he would've pushed them away. But there was something about Will, something about the way his eyes pulled you toward him like a bright, clear sky pulls you outside, something about the way his grin seemed to warm up the room. Nico still didn't like Will bothering him, but he didn't tell Will to stop.

When Nico opened his eyes, it was dark outside, and he could see the flickering light from the campfire out the window. His gaze drifted to the deep shadows in the corners of the room. He felt a chill travel down his spine when he thought of the last time he'd traveled the shadows, when he'd almost become one. He fumbled with the lamp for a second, and felt uncharacteristically relieved by the glow of light when it turned on. He'd never been afraid of the dark before; sometimes he'd even shied away from light. Why did he feel so nervous, now, around his element?

A head poked through the doorway, and the room seemed to brighten as Will Solace walked in. Nico scowled in spite of the warmth that seemed to seep into the room. "Is that some kind of Apollo thing?" Nico said with annoyance he didn't entirely feel.

Will looked confused. "Wait... what? Apollo thing?"

"You know what I'm talking about, Solace. How the room got brighter when you walked in, did you..." His voice trailed off and his cheeks burned as Will raised his eyebrows at Nico.

"Needed a little sunshine, death boy? I know I've got a sunny personality, but I can't literally brighten a room!" Will laughed and plopped down in the armchair that Jason had occupied earlier in the day.

Will looked over as Nico said, "So why're you here? Shouldn't you be healing people, or at the campfire, or something?"

He shrugged. "I needed a break. I've been on my feet all day; besides, I could stand to see a friendly face. Or, in your case, a friendly skeleton. You're way too thin."

"Just because I'm skinny, _golden boy,_ doesn't-" Nico was cut off by Will's chuckle.

"Golden boy, did you say?" As Will looked at him with an amused smile, Nico slumped back into his pillows. He suddenly felt something in his stomach-queasiness?

Through the window, campers were silhouetted against the flames as they left the sing-along, heading back to their cabins. Will's eyes followed Nico's gaze, and he glanced at the clock at the wall. "I wish I could stay longer, but if I don't get some sleep, _I'll _fade into shadows; plus, the harpies would be after me."

"Good," Nico said, "Leave me in peace. I've had to endure enough of your mindless chatter."

Will stood and stretched, and walked out of the room. At the door he paused, and looked back at Nico. "I'd stop coming by," he said, as an impish grin spread across his face, "But you know you'd miss me."

The door clicked shut, leaving Nico staring at where Will had stood a second ago, wondering why the darkness seemed more present in his absence.


	2. Chapter 2

Nico left the infirmary after lunch, crossing the green from the big house back towards the cabins. Sunlight fell across him shoulders, grounding him, making him feel present; he shuddered when he thought that just a few days ago, he had almost become a ghost. He lifted his eyes to where the Hades cabin stood, a dark, ominous presence, shadowed even in the heat of day, and felt a slight chill along his spine.

_Is this what people feel when they see _me? _A dark, unfriendly presence? No wonder they edge away when I'm near._ He saw a flash of blond across the lawn, and his head snapped up, almost involuntarily. It was one of Will's siblings, laughing at a joke Katie Gardener had told. _Who did you think it was? Will? Why would you even care if it _was _Will?_

_Because he needs to stop pestering me,_ he thought, sighing. Even as a thought, it was half-hearted. He looked at the Hades cabin again with distaste, and flopped down on the benches by the campfire.

His mind wandered to the conversation he'd had with Will before he'd left the infirmary.

"Hi." Will handed Nico a few pills and a glass of water, smiling when Nico handed back the empty glass. Nico's eyes flitted away from Will, to a painting of Persephone on the wall, holding a bunch of flowers. _Is it possible, _he thought wildly, _that Will's smile is so bright, he could made daisies bloom in the night? _Will's pen scratched on a clipboard, taking a note, and Nico shook his head. Where did that though come from?

Will was still smiling as he turned around, but instead of returning the gesture, Nico stood up. "Bye," he replied, moving toward the door.

"Wait." Will's arm blocked his path, and Nico bumped into it. He felt a strange jolt in his stomach. _Pills, _he said to himself. _It's the pills. _"I'm not sure you should go just yet. I think staying a little longer might be a good idea."

"What? Why? You said three days, Solace. It's been three days. I'm fine. I'm healthy." Nico looked fiercely at Will, swallowing the words he didn't say: "You make me feel... confused. Uncomfortable and yet at ease. You're messing with my head. I'm probably not better, but I need to sort my thoughts out, and I can't think when you're around."

"I don't know, Nico... I feel like-"

Nico cut off Will's words more harshly than he'd intended. "If it's just a _feeling_, Will, there's no reason for me to stay. I'm not sick, and I can sleep just as well in my cabin as I can here."

"Are you sure? I really think you're not better yet..." Will sounded concerned, and a little hurt.

Nico pushed past his still outstretched arm. "I'm fine, Will. Really."

He shifted his back on the wooden bench of the amphitheater where he lay, watching clouds drift across the sky. Holding his hands up above his face, he examined them, silhouetted against bright blue. They were pale, like ghosts of spiders, he thought with a sigh, dropping them back down. His right hand rested on his stomach, and his left hand hung off the edge of the bench, into the small bit of shade underneath. A cold feeling danced across his fingers. Lifting his hand, he watched as his fingers solidified into pale flesh. His fingertips had turned to smoke in the shadows.

It didn't surprise him. He'd been fading a lot less after Coach Hedge's sports herbal medicine had started to kick in and he'd spent a few days in the infirmary, but he wasn't healed. Not completely. He wasn't sure if he'd ever really heal all the way.

He knew he should have told Will. Saying he was fine was a lie; but at the same time, he knew what Will did to his stomach, and his head, and he wasn't certain he'd ever be fine while Will was watching over him, either.

Pushing himself into a warmer patch of sunlight, he curled around the hand that had turned to smoke when in the shadows, and fell asleep.

Will slipped out of dinner a few minutes early, looking for Nico when he realized Nico hadn't shown up for dinner. Will headed toward the cabins under a sky that was fading to inky blue and scattered with stars, intending to pull Nico's moping self out of the Hades cabin to eat something before dinner ended. He stopped short, however, when he passed the amphitheater, noticing a small shape curled up like a cat on one of the benches.

Stepping closer to the younger boy, a small smile played on his face upon seeing that it was, as he'd thought, Nico. Gently, Will eased him into his arms, and walked towards the Hades cabin with Nico curled against his chest, deep asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Nico woke, not to the daylight seeping through the cracks in the door or the clamor of campers outside, but to the creak of the cabin door, through which Will Solace appeared. Upon stepping into the cabin, Will strode across the room and pulled heavy emerald curtains back from the windows.

"No wonder you're deathly pale and sickly looking. You're shutting out the sun," Will crossed the room to Nico's bed, where the gaunt boy was still blinking sleepily. "Vitamin D, Nico," Will tapped on the nightstand nearby with the glass he was holding for emphasis. "Vitamin D. It's an important vitamin. It comes from sunlight, something that you are not getting enough of."

"W-Will?" Nico scrambled into a sitting position, his voice panicky. "Wha- Why are you here? Nico shoved his hands under his sheets, hoping to hide his fingers, indistinct and smoky in the Hades cabin, where everything seemed to be in shadow. _If Will sees my hands..._

Eyes twinkling, Will laughed lightly at Nico, whose hair was rumpled and eyes were thick with sleep. "As I recall, you pronounced yourself as 'healthy.' I'm not sure I'd call sleeping seventeen hours healthy, would you?"

Nico pulled the long sleeve of his shirt down to cover his indistinct fingers before reaching for a pillow from the next bed to throw at Will. "Fine, I'm still sick. Doesn't that give you more reason to let me sleep, though? Why are you disrupting my 'slumber of healing'?"

"I'm worried that you secretly yearn to join the Hypnos cabin." Will grinned and fiddled with strand of his honey colored hair. "Clovis would..." Nico's eyes stayed on Will's hair. _It's honey_, he thought, _drenched in sunshine. _His eyes followed the lock of hair from the top of Will's head to where it waved out slightly, and then curled around his ear. He felt a strange urge to brush it back from Will's face.

"Anyway," Nico blinked and refocused on what Will was saying. "I came because you left the infirmary a little, ah, abruptly yesterday. If I would have been thinking clearly, I would have given you a bottle of pills to take with. I think rest and some meds for a few more days could do you some good. You're already sleeping an inordinate amount, so I don't need to hassle you about that, but really," Will held out a glass of water and two blue capsules. "Take these. It's a good idea."

_Shoot. _Nico glanced at where his hands were, buried under the covers. _How can I take that without him seeing my hands? _His eyes flitted to the glass of water, and then rested on Will's face. "Leave it on the table. I'll take it in a minute."

Will gave him a knowing smile. "Sure you will, as soon as I shoot an arrow straight." Will's lack of archery skills, despite his father being Apollo, were well known. He'd shoot an arrow straight when Hera became friends with Annabeth. That is to say, never. "Take it," Will intoned goodheartedly. "It's not poison."

Nico grabbed the glass with his sleeve covering his fingers, then snatched at the pills, hoping to move his hand fast enough for them to evade Will's notice.

"Hey!" Will caught Nico's retreating hand, encircling the gaunt boy's wrist with his thumb and middle finger. Will's grip was strong, and warm. Nico felt his cheeks burn scarlet. "Your hand..."

Will studied Nico's face for a long moment, then looked down to where he'd caught Nico's wrist. Uncurling Nico's fingers, he examined how Nico's fingertips had turned to smoky mirages of themselves. The pills Nico was holding fell to the floor and rolled under the bed.

"You lied." Will's eyes, the same color as a cloudless afternoon, meet the brown ones across from him. Nico could read dismay, and, possibly, sadness in Will's gaze. "You lied so you could leave the infirmary...but why did you want to leave it so badly? ...Is it...me? Am I bothering you too much?"

Nico drew in a breath. "No, it's...not _you_, it's more...I can't think. When you're around, I mean, I'm...confused, maybe, or...my thoughts don't make sense," he finished, wincing at how his words had come out.

Will's face fell. "You can just tell me you don't want to be friends, Nico." Will let Nico's hand drop back onto the bed. "I'll have one of my siblings see if they can do something about your hands." Will pulled a small plastic container out of his pocket and set it on the nightstand.

"Will, no, it's not that-"

Will cut him off. "Two pills, twice a day, for another week. I'll have someone check in then." Will's shook his head, his disappointment evident.

Nico closed his eyes, and didn't open them until the door wheezed shut. Inexplicably, felt his throat tighten. _You've lost friends before. Get over it. _He looked at the spot where Will had stood moments before. _You _have _lost friends before. But this isn't the same. This feels...different. _

Shadowed walls, polished floors; Nico knew where he was. But at the same time, he was lost. Completely lost.


End file.
